what is a railway striker? (1871)

renatakins · 12 Mar 2011

I'm writing a biography of my great grandfather & this is what he did for a living in Spondon England in 1871. There wasn't much info on the internet that I could find except that it seems like they only needed one per train. Anyway I just wanted to know what that job would consist of. Thanks for any help.

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Wyvern · 12 Mar 2011

I take it that the date 1871 refers to the census of that year.

Spondon is of course the location of the British Celanese works. However that did not begin until the twentieth century.

If it is something particular to Spondon there is http://www.spondonhistory.org.uk/home

Otherwise if there isnt an expert on here to help there is the Midland Railway Society or historians of the Rowsley mpd or Peak Rail who might have ideas.

silvermachine · 12 Mar 2011

hi
I assume you are looking at the occupation in the 1871 census.

Just a suggestion but do you think the handwriting might say "stoker" ( the r and the i could run together) . If so then he would probably have worked at derby works on the stationary boilers.

renatakins · 12 Mar 2011

Thanks for the idea, I checked the census. Its very clearly & neatly written with a dot above the i & definately says striker at railway. On the internet I saw other people listed as striker at the railway but it did not say what they did.

DaveNewcastle · 12 Mar 2011

A striker was one of the 'gang' who laid track. I couldn't tell you the precise duties but I believe that the striker would be involved in the task of jointing rails with their fishplates and bolts, once the rail was aligned and leveled, and in the reverse process of separating them when required.

The other uses of the word, for lighting a fire and for industrial action are unlikely to be recorded as a trade or profession, though I'm sure the phrase 'professional striker' was used (with not very much irony) a hundred years later, during the 1980's!

william · 12 Mar 2011

Sounds like someone who hit something. Laying track like a crapping crab on speed (which I'm sure they would have done in those days), the hitting of bolts etc was probably the sole job of 'the striker'. Just a guess though.

silvermachine · 12 Mar 2011

hi

Ive just been having a look but I can't find any reference to a striker as a railway occupation.

You could try searching further via the national railway museum which has an excellent reference collection, or there are a couple of sites online which have extensive railway document archives ( www.railwaysarchive.co.uk is excellent)

Just another thought, 1871 was a year of significant industrial disputes and there were long running strikes in coal mines and elsewhere. The 1871 census was conducted by takers who went from door to door to write the information down. Could it be that your great grandfather was on strike at the time of the census ( along with neighbours who worked for the same employer ?) and this was recorded by the census taker ?

good luck with it.

kentuckytony · 12 Mar 2011

Played that position on the railway's football team and was proud of it?

Mvann · 12 Mar 2011

If he was in America, I would have said that he would be hammering in dog spikes into sleepers. British railways tended to use chairs with keys to secure track to the sleepers rather than spikes. Now it maybe that he either hammered keys into the chairs or, as I've seen chairs fixed to sleepers with a mix of bolts and pins, he might have been fixing chairs to sleepers.

chuffchuff · 13 Mar 2011

Wheel tapper??

Old Timer · 13 Mar 2011

I believe in this context the "striker" was a person who worked in the forge and used the hammer to shape the hot metal out of the forge on the anvil.

Wyvern · 13 Mar 2011

For the benefit of the OP, that would most probably be in the railway workshops in Derby

However I'm intrigued by the statement "except that it seems like they only needed one per train" which would indicate train crew rather than works or pw people

PinzaC55 · 13 Mar 2011

I'm pretty sure that, as in America referred to by an earlier poster, a striker hammered in the "spikes" which fixed the chairs down to the sleepers.

kentuckytony · 14 Mar 2011

And, as some may know, in the olden days in the USA (before track machines), the whole crew of track maintenance workers were known as "gandy dancers".

From what I read, the person that hammers the spike is called a "spike driver".

renatakins · 18 Mar 2011

Thanks for all your research & insights on this subject. I found it interesting & useful. I'm delighted with all the response to my question !! Again many thanks,

Trog · 19 Mar 2011

I think Old Timer has the right of it.

I think it may also have been a name for a Blacksmiths assistant, who did the heavy hammer work under the direction of the more skilled man.

renatakins · 7 Apr 2011

Yes this is the exactly it, his father was a blacksmith so he must have learned something from him about the trade. When I read blacksmith then I realized that..... so thanks for your help, otherwise I'd never have thought of it in that connection before. I was only thinking of railway tracks. Thanks everyone for helping me to come to this conclusion.

what is a railway striker? (1871)

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